Tormented, Wormrot, Wykked Wytch

Tormented (Sweden): Rotten Death (Listenable)
Name your band Tormented. Name your album “Rotten Death.” Then name your songs, “Drowning in Decaying Flesh,” “Vengeance from Beyond the Grave,” “Blood of the Undead,” Tomb of Corpses,” so and so forth.
Now, record your music to make it sound like it was recorded in a coffin. What do you get?
The result is classic-style death metal, based on the brutality of the grotesque and macabre.
And not a problem to be found anywhere on the whole album: not a single thing to complain about.
Tormented’s music has a way of sounding enjoyable because of the overall feel: there is a genuine attraction to classic death metal; the riffs (despite the horror/graveyard image) are memorable and easy to get into; there are effective guitar solos here. The guitar tone is total death metal buzzsaw and fits the sound very well.
Combine the above elements with very appropriate drumming that is played with feeling for rhythm, and real, genuine death metal growl, and you have death metal that will quickly win you over. When the music stops, in your head you will hear the growling, riffs and drumming. It’s that effective.
Tormented is all about death metal in the classic style. This is not fancy and tech-savy. It’s raw death metal. Now, this is how it’s done! www.myspace.com/fuckingtormented

Wormrot (Singapore): Dirge (Earache)
SONGS: 25 songs; many are between 30 seconds and 1 minute; total running time is some 18 minutes.
LYRICS: bloody cheeky monkey/smartass topics, with titles like “All Go No Emo” and “Semiconscious Godsize Dumbass.”
CREATIVITY: it’s all grind speed and energy.
TALENT: raging, screaming, growling, blasting.
SOUND/PRODUCTION: a tight, loud production; clear, grind sound quality; raw, not too computerized; very appropriate.

Grind insanity for a short period of time and then it’s gone.
Wormrot are a special skills team of grind: they identify their objective and pursue that objective with quick determination. They get it done quickly and then they leave.
Wonderful. Don’t overstay your welcome. Know when to stop.
Twenty-five songs, 18 minutes: good idea.
www.myspace.com/wormrotgrind

Wykked Wytch (U.S.): The Ultimate Deception (Goomba)
SONGS: 8 songs, plus a 1 minute time-eater interlude; 1 cover of “Fade to Black”; total running time is about 46 minutes.
LYRICS: beasts, serpents, decapitation, destroying, animals, etc. Typical “metal” lyrics.
CREATIVITY: probably the soloing or melodies in the songs is the most particular element to the band.
TALENT: fast playing, growling, some clean singing; heavy/typical thrash/modern riffing; the guitar work is the most unique; the growling/screeching is alright (“grim” and “scary”), as is the drumming.
SOUND/PRODUCTION: “modern”: loud, upfront, relying mostly on the loudness to make an impact; can’t hear the bass; just screaming, chugging riffs and drumming.

Loud, screaming obnoxious metal. The most melodic song here, of course, is their “black metal” version of “Fade to Black.”
Overall, the band does a good job of the “modern” thrash/black/death combination. To these ears, while the upfront sound is fine and expected, it’s in the area of coming up with more unique/distinctive guitar riffs for songs as a whole that could be very beneficial. That component would catch listeners’ attention more. So far, this is fine for headbanging, but when the music stops playing, it does not stay with the listener too much. What is your next move, Wykked Witch?! www.wykkedwytch.com